Celebrational Post.

LET'S CELEBRATE!!!!!!!!



As of December 26th, this blog is officially one year old!! Granted, I didn't start posting till sometime in January earlier this year but I still created the blog in December 2009 the day after Christmas {it must have been an uneventful Christmas, or perhaps I was bored ;)}. I'd been interested for some time prior to creating the blog about doing said action and after doing a bit of research {no, I will not tell you what my definition of research is, you wouldn't understand it unless you're a homeschooler ;)} I unhesitatingly created a blog {E.J.'s Library} with a few clicks of the mouse, and then logged off my mom's computer because after a day of checking emails my poor eyes were killing me! Have I ever mentioned that I'm farsighted and have a need {sometimes more desperate than at other times} for new glasses? And driving lessons, and other essentials. ;)
Anyway, back to the celebration! My plans for this blog have changed somewhat since my first post {entitled unimaginatively as Introduction I think} but nevertheless, this blog is still centered around books. I'm a writer you see, and my instructors, my mentors even, are all the classic authors: Jane Austen {she's actually my role model}, G.A. Henty, Louisa May Alcott, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, H. Rider Haggard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, even H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Zane Grey play a role in developing my writing skills though I have read fewer of their books than of the listed others. I've encountered many, many other authors {some good, some bad, some simply horrible at the beautiful occupation of a writer skilled with words}, the names of whom elude me at the moment. I've read a vast number of books, many of which were enjoyable, several were downright trash, and a select few were quite simply delightful and have remained my steadfast favorites, even when several years have passed since first reading them. I have not always been a good judge of books, but through trial and error, I have figured out more or less how to avoid the bad books and resist the urge to read them anyway. That was why I originally chose the verse from Philippians as my blog's motto, for if I can't be terribly wise in what I read and watch now that I've exposed myself too much, I can at least chose to review the suitable books and hopefully provide what others did not for me and spare some innocent young reader out there from encountering the same bad books as I. So, if perhaps you don't see in the archives a book you're interested in, that is because either I haven't read it, or I have and haven't reviewed it yet, or I have read it and found it wanting or worse.

Anyway, I want to assure you that I have no plans at all for discontinuing this blog ever and shall simply strive to post more reviews, more verses, more recipes, and whatnot, both for my enjoyment and yours.

Now, to the archives!!!! I have posted in the last year eighteen reviews on books {I promise I will double that in the next year, if not triple it!!} and the varied titles of those eighteen reviews are: The Honorable Impostor, A Knight of the White Cross, Pride and Prejudice, Out on the Pampas, The Last Battle, Prince Caspian, Persuasion, The Lost World, Do Hard things, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Beauty, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, Colonel Thorndyke's Secret, Sense and Sensibility, Riders of the Purple Sage, and Northanger Abbey. I posted a grand total of eight reviews on movies {yes, I love movies, no, I didn't originally want to totally devote this blog to them, yes, I will doubtlessly be posting more movie reviews in the upcoming year so you can see what I like to watch and blah, blah, blah ;)} and the titles are: Jurassic Park 3, Star Trek, Prince of Egypt, Prince of Persia, How to Train Your Dragon, Newsies, The Christmas Card, and The Ultimate Gift. I posted five favorite family recipes {okay, they're not hand-me-downs from grandma or great-grandma but they're still good!}: Chocolate Revel Bars, Chocolate Buttermilk Brownies, Coconut Macaroons, several small handy recipes like chocolate covered raisins, and Pumpkin Bars. Of Scripture I posted a grand total of six chapters: 1 Corinthians 13, Psalm 1, Proverbs 31, Psalm 117, Psalm 114, and Genesis 45. Of my own personal writing I posted four poems and two short stories: Dear Teenage Girl, Home is Where I Want to Be, In the Pages of a Book, Travel to Distant Lands, My Notebook, A Humble Fairytale, and Daily Routine. The last listed hasn't a single thing to do with my personal routine. I posted one link to a poem I liked, one post with some snow pictures back in November, and three posts containing excerpts from Pilgrim's Progress, Ivanhoe, and the eighth Ranger's Apprentice book. All in all, plus a few I'm-outta-time posts, total to over fifty posts. Lame, I know, but now that I've my own computer and can get on more often than on Saturdays, I fully mean to double that number.

So, all the numbers tallied, my promises and reassurances made, I leave you to enjoy yourself, browse the archives, request reviews, and post lots of comments. God bless and have a happy New Year!!